1y ago

New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns

apnews.com New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns

Those attending outdoor parties or barbecues in New York City this weekend may find an uninvited guest looming over their festivities: a police drone.

The New York City police department plans to pilot the unmanned aircrafts in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events, over Labor Day weekend, officials announced Thursday.

“If a caller states there’s a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we’re going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party,” Kaz Daughtry, the assistant NYPD Commissioner, said at a press conference.

The plan drew immediate backlash from privacy and civil liberties advocates, raising questions about whether such drone use violated existing laws for police surveillance.

“It’s a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act,” said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics. “Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi inspired scenario.”

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138 comments

Is it illegal to have house parties in NYC? Why is the NYPD busting up keggers like campus police?
- It becomes illegal when there are too many people there, or there is violence, underage drinking, drug usage, and if it's too loud, the attendees are parking in the street blocking traffic, fire risks all sorts of shit
  
  They are not responding to complains, they are searching themselves.
  EDIT: my eyes. They are responding. Still very wierd. Crowd itself is not a crime, article 20 of DoHR says so.
  
  The article specifically says in response to complaints...
  
  It will be construed as, they can start indefinite surveillance on an area after a complaint is filed at any time.
  
  "Someone complained 3 weeks ago so we're just checking it out"
  
  As does the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
  
  Those sound like things they need a warrant to learn about in a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy.
  
  Are they doing this in white, affluent communities?
  
  We should try to make them
  
  It is illegal to have to many people at your own home? That's a new one.
  
  Only in the context of like, fire safety. You can't have more people in a building than it is designed to safely hold.
  Of course, cops use this safety regulation as an excuse to control people and be dicks...
  
  Country of freedom my ass.
  
  Nyc's greatest act was convincing everyone they're a liberal city.
  
  Freedom isn't free. And the price tag has been increasing so fast
  
  That's all stuff people can call the cops for, no need for surveillance.
  
  So you didn't read the article?
  
  They say 'if a caller reports a large crowd, they'll send a drone', not 'if a crime is reported'. That's still surveillance, being in a large crowd isn't a crime by itself.
  
  It was an incomplete article that did not properly explain what the supposed legitimate issue is.
  
  So the cops and fuck with your backyard party if you smoke a joint?
  
  Joint? Nah, hard drugs, fo sho (unless you are a billionaire).
  
  What a waste of time and resources.
  
  How they will distinguish cigaretes, joints and hard drugs?
  
  Skin color
  
  How would a drone know? Other than capacity and street violations, there's nothing that a drone should realistically be able to identify.
  
  I think the drone operators would do the identifying part
  
  no, as grass is legal in nyc now, but if you're blowing lines and smoking crack, trippin balls, or tweakin, they probably should, you know, for the kids in the neighborhood you nincompoop
  
  So people having fun is a problem for you lol

138 comments